Visiting the Lenehans

Over the last few days we had noticed that Amelia's right eye was starting to look a little red and there was even a little "gunk" coming out of it. So, because we are first time parents, and because she only weights 6 pounds, and because I thought it would be really poor parenting if we lost an eye in the first two weeks, we took a trip to the pediatrician yesterday.

It turned out to be a clogged tear duct which requires no medication--just some cleaning with warm wash cloths. And this is a very common thing that apparently everyone but us knows about. Everyone we talked to for the rest of the day knew all about it and had their own remedies--oh well.

Since we were in Concord we took the opportunity to call our friends the Lenehan's. They were setting up for a party later in the evening for Eliza and her baby Grace. In town for the party were Rosie and Andrew so we got to see them too. Everyone liked Amelia and couldn't believe how small she is--we can't either. This size issue was brought into stark relief when our friend Eliza arrived with Grace. Grace was born fairly small but she has plumped up into a beautiful 18 pound 4 month old. It made me hopeful that maybe Amelia will continue to gain weight and get that great pudginess that babies are known for. It was really fun to see everyone and I think we learned that we are going to be just fine when it comes to taking Amelia on trips. Heidi also liked being outside since she hasn't really been out since Amelia was born.

Unrelated video for the day: Here is a video of Amelia in her swing. It is still too big for her so we watch her closely. Sorry if it gives you motion sickness.

Tucker Comes to Visit

28 March 2008

On Thursday our friend Tucker came over from Dartmouth for a visit. He brought Amelia her first GREEN t-shit. I wanted to put it on her but I was told not to wake her up so I laid it on her to take this picture. As you can see it is quite big so I suppose I will have to wait to get a picture of it until she is a little bigger.

Tucker stayed for a few hours in the afternoon and we discussed plans for how we were going to take Amelia on her first really big trip to San Diego for Dan and Whitney's wedding. It is not until September so we have a good long time to plan it.

For Tucker's visit we were going to take Amelia on her first walk. Earlier in the day it had been sunny and fairly warm but by the time Tucker came the sun was waning and the wind had kicked up. So I tried out the car seat stroller combination with our cat Badger. She seemed to like it and didn't jump out until I began rolling it around on only the two back wheels.

This stroller is awesome. It folds up, it has quick release wheels for travelling, it has shocks and tons of storage space, and it is pretty light. I just can't wait until it is warmer and we can use it more.

By the way Badger's stoller ride was much more successful than the time I tried to walk her. I was at home, maybe cleaning out the garage, and found some Velcro strapping. I fashioned this into a collar and then attached some rope to it and then put it on Badger. I took her out in the front yard and she went wild attacking the rope. It was like having a fire cracker on the end of a string. I quickly took her back inside before she was able to escape. Cats are very hard to walk.

Stonehenge

28 March 2008

Today there was a snow day for the Concord School District. Weather stations were calling for as much as 6 inches but we only got about 2 in Barnstead. It was heavy and wet and I'm sure it will be gone fairly soon.

In my time off I built a model of Stonehenge out of tofu. It is pictured at right--and it tasted great.

Amelia with Eyes Open

We don't have many with her eyes open so we thought you might enjoy. She also has a strange message at the end.

Random assortment of things that have happened in the last few days:

• Edie (Grammie Perkins) brought us dinner for the fourth or fifth time--baked chicken. Very appreciated. It makes it very easy to just have to warm up dinner.
• Amelia has begun tracking Heidi with her wide open mouth. If I am holding her and Heidi walks by Amelia will open her mouth wide and turn her head as Heidi goes by--hoping for just a little more food.
• It is very muddy in our driveway so I am going to build another boardwalk today.
• I replaced the gutters on our house which fell off because of the winter ice.
• We still have about 2 feet of snow in the yard but it is melting fast.
• Tucker visits today!

Pictures only Parents Would Take

27 March 2008

http://picasaweb.google.com/crumlives/PicturesOnlyParentsWouldTake?authkey=iTgzz_0RnhM

This link takes you to a set of pictures that only parents would take (and keep). It is an ongoing series of the same basic picture taken over and over because we think each one is different and cute in its own way. In reality they are all the same picture and we now have about 500 of them.

Courtney Visits

26 March 2008

Yesterday our friend Courtney came to visit. She brought wonderful gifts--some diapers, a box of baby wipes and a six pack of good beer. Courtney was the most recent visitor in our convince others to have a baby series.

As those of you that have children know, the moment that you have kids you immediately begin to convince others that they should have kids too. A negative rationale for this could be, "Join us in the misery," but I think it is more accurate to say that once you have kids you finally realize that all of the sleepless nights and the worrying might be worth it. That's right--might--we've only done this for 10 days, we wouldn't want to jump to conclusions.

The keys to the "you should have a baby too," visit are simple. First, change the baby 2 minutes before the visitor comes. Second, let the person hold the baby right away. Third, tell only awesome stories of the baby and its birth. We did great with the first two but at one point Heidi began telling Courtney about some of the harder parts of the birth. At one point she even mentioned that there would be some pain. We realized Courtney might be getting worried so we quickly showed her Amelia's feet. Baby feet are strangely cute and this immediately calmed the situation.

If you have not come for your visit yet we welcome you any time. And, of course, this note is a joke. We won't try to convince you to have kids. Amelia will do that for us.

Good news!

Well we had good news from the visiting nurse today! Amelia is gaining weight and is two ounces over her birth weight. She's tipping the scales at 5 pounds 10 ounces -- her double chin is filling out nicely. Also, her umbilical cord fell off today! I admit to being a bit nostalgic about this and haven't been able to throw it out yet. If you think that's weird, I understand. I was going to post a picture today -- but I can't find the camera. So maybe tomorrow?

Heidi

Back to Work

24 March 2008

I'm going back to work today. This amazing last week has only served to underline my feelings that I really would prefer to never work. When I have to work I feel like I do a good job--guided mainly by a work ethic instilled in me by my own parents, my dad especially--but the fact remains that given the option I would not work at all. I would be very busy and I would do lots of things, I just wouldn't go in to an office.

Maybe we could pack up, Amelia, Heidi and I, and head west. I'd like to get involved in a land rush like they had in the movie Far and Away. We could find a nice big spot on the prairie and build a little house on it. We could work on the farm all day. The kids could call me Pa. And our days and years would be filled with amusing yet educational encounters with the local townsfolk. These encounters would get more exotic and interesting as the years wore on--sometimes involving ex-NFL football players.

Hmm. Looking over that paragraph it seems slightly unrealistic. It does bring to mind a friend of mine (or is he a relative?) who works at a big financial job out east. His job comes with status and prestige and requires a ton of hard work and long hours. We were talking one time about what he might do when he retires and he said he would like to be a greeter on the ski slopes. This would be similar to the Wal-Mart greeters except slightly younger and on mountain sides. Like my little house on the prairie scenario this too is a little unrealistic. And what we will both try to do is bring as much of our dream scenarios into our real lives.

So the dream scenario is the writing of those three paragraphs. The reality is that I have to go to work and can't think of a suitable ending. It is 6:56 and I said I would leave at 7:00. If I never had to work I could treat you to a really tasty final paragraph--one that would leave you smiling through your tears. But I have to go to work.

I'm off...

It's Heidi

Hi!

I am feeling up to posting -- and also up to learning HOW to post. Next up I'll figure out how to do the pictures. I have enjoyed reading Tom's posts almost as much as everyone else -- and nothing made me laugh harder than the middle of the night video he took of himself! Tom deserves a medal for being new dad of the year. He changes Amelia's diapers (he even shooed me away yesterday afternoon when I tried to do it myself) and he swaddles her like a pro -- I can't seem to get all the little edges of the blankets in the right place, but he can do it in about 5 seconds. I wish I could post a picture of him "kangaroo holding" Amelia but he might go on diaper strike. The doctors told us to hold her skin to skin as much as possible to simulate the womb. So, when one of us does it, we have to take off her shirt and our shirt and then wrap ourselves up together. Tom loves doing it but does not love how he looks in the pictures :) Amelia loves it when he does it because she plays with his chest hair in her sleep with her little hands.

That's all I have to say for now -- of course she's sleeping like an angel right now in the middle of the morning...!

Honeymoon Ends Abruptly

23 March 2008

Can a honeymoon end any other way? I thought for a while about the addition of abruptly and thought that this case merited its use. The main reason is that I can put a specific time, 5:12am, on the end of the honeymoon.

It was at 5:12am that Amelia changed from a premature baby that never cried to one that began to cry-very loudly. She seemed to somehow realize that we had rested up from the first week and that she was ready to begin to signal her displeasure, not by squirming and wrinkling her forehead, but by screaming.

It was this morning that I had my first chance to walk all over the house carrying Amelia, trying to stop her crying. It was also our first experience with thinking that we had stopped her crying and going back to bed. Only to be awakened minutes later by some really quality crying. Heidi even had a dream that Amelia was crying, which caused her to pick the baby up, which caused Amelia to cry.

The middle point there is an interesting one. We love Amelia and know that she isn't tormenting us with her crying--she is just a baby. But is interesting that babies evolved so that they don't always cry constantly. They take breaks. And those breaks occur for the exact amount of time that allow their parents to get back to sleep. Just when the parents are fading back into real sleep, sleep that will get them some quality rest, that is when the cry comes. Babies are certainly designed so that no one can ever forget about them.

Truthfully though, Amelia's crying is a good thing. It means that any hints of jaundice have passed and that even though she still is 4 weeks from when she should have been born that she is becoming a good little baby. The sad part about this day is that Amelia's crying came coupled with a true household tragedy. Our cats love to chase each other through the house at top speeds. They knock over books and plants and step on spoons sending them flying through the air. When I awoke this morning I found that they had knocked over something much more important than a plant.

The coffee maker. When I first tried to soothe Amelia by walking around the house the first thing I saw were the pieces of the coffee maker strewn over the kitchen floor. Hours later when it was coffee time I tried to put the pieces back together but they had broken one crucial latch that meant one would have to hold the pieces of the maker together while the coffee brewed. (I considered this option for longer than you might think.) Finally I remembered that I had an old glass style coffee maker somewhere in the garage. I dug through shelves and stuck behind the chain saw, covered in saw dust was our old coffee maker. It was a long process of cleaning off all of the sawdust but finally it was ready to go. I set it up and realized that this coffee maker didn't have a grinding feature like the one the cats had broken. At the same time I realized that I had only whole beans.

After some thinking I figured a way that I could pour the beans into the coffee maker broken by the cats, press the start button which would grind the beans, and then pull the plug before any of the brewing began. So I now have the largest coffee grinder ever. It was certainly a process but I am enjoying my morning cup as I write this note.

Happy Easter to those of you that celebrate it.

Amelia Almosts Moves

Some better lit video of Amelia. Someday we will have some where she moves a little more--she just doesn't now.

Easter Visitors

23 March 2008

Today we had a big day of visiting. Probably too big as Heidi and Amelia are now in bed and it is only 4:30 pm. All of it was great but reminds us of how tired we are.

First David and Heath came. They brought us tons of groceries and Heath made cookies. The groceries will enable us to continue to not leave the house for at least 3 more days. Here are some pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/crumlives/GoochAndJamieVisitAmelia?authkey=mKytjUB4XPI

Then our friends Jim and Jamie stopped by on their way to visit Jim's sister in Tunbridge, VT. It was a great treat to see them and we very much appreciated them taking the detour to our house to visit Amelia. Jim is a big man so when he held Amelia it made her seem even smaller.

At the end of the day we felt like we had been the honored guests at a party. I've said before but all of our visitors have been so awesome, so fun, and so appreciated.

Quote of the day:

"These nursing pads suck up serious amounts of fluid. Why can't they make paper towels like this?"

What Tom Does in the Middle of the Night

Me in the middle of the night. I have to think of things to do to keep myself awake while Heidi feeds Amelia. I only have a role at the beginning and the end of feedings--changing diapers on both ends--so I have to keep myself awake for the 1/2 an hour where Amelia feeds. I spent the first few days just staring at the whole event. But now that we feed Amelila in our bed during the night I have tried to watch her feed but found myself asleep within 2 minutes. So this is one example of me trying to stay awake.

Meatloaf

20 March 2008

On Thursday Edie brought us the mother lode of baby supplies. She and Becky had bought tones of preemie clothes and Edie washed them all. Then she organized the mathching clothes into their own zip lock bags. She also brought us beef stew and frozen meatloaf.

The meatloaf created a bit of havoc yesterday as I was working in the garage. I put it in the oven to cook and returned to work outside. About 1/2 an hour later I went in to check on what would be Heidi's lunch. I found the windows open and Heidi and Amelia under a blanket on the couch.

We (I) have needed to clean the oven for about 3 months now but I have not been able to because every time I think of it Heidi, and now Amelia, have been in the house and I did not want to use the powerful chemicals with her around. The meatloaf was not the cause of the smoke and the alarms it was the caked on gunk at the bottom of the oven. I'll clean it someday.

After removing the meatloaf and cooking it on the stove top, an interesting way to cook meatloaf, it was very good. So thanks Edie.

David and Heath Visit

22 March 2008





Friday evening Amelia had some surprise visitors from the West. David and Heath flew out from Chicago to surprise Heidi and Amelia. They brought many gifts including a baby Bjorn and Amelia's first American Girl doll. I love the gifts that help me carry Amelia around so the baby Bjorn is one of my favorites, up there with the stroller and backpack that we received at the shower.



David and Heath also brought dinner which was a great gift in itself. As those of you with kids know, the gift of time given through cooking can make things much easier for the parents.



They stayed for the evening and will be back tomorrow before flying back home. A quick visit but a fun one. We enjoyed very much the joy on David's face at holding his first grandchild.

Some more pictures of their visit: http://picasaweb.google.com/crumlives/DavidAndHeathVisit?authkey=yPc0tFXZ2LA

Boxes

21 March 2008

Today I filled up our truck with cardboard boxes and took them to the dump. I couldn't take any of the other trash or recycling because the whole truck was filled with boxes. This is one of the many things that no one ever told me about having kids. Everything from the breast pump to diapers to swings comes in cardboard boxes. And most of the time the boxes are huge compared to what is actually inside. I took a whole load of boxes to the dump the day before Amelia was born and I still had to take another trip today.

Today I also built a board walk from our muddy driveway, over some thick ice that won't melt, over some more mud and finally to our front door. This way Heidi won't have to worry about falling over when she is walking to the house. There was one of our storms about a month ago that dumped 10 inches of snow followed by an inch or so of rain. This created a 5-7 inch covering of ice over our walkways and driveways. Where it could melt and run off we have had some clearing but the walkway to our house is lower than the driveway so it has filled with daytime melt and then frozen again each night--so it is thicker than ever before.

I'm told we have some surprise visitors coming to the house today--more on them tomorrow.

Amelia Delivers a Gift

21 March 2008

I wouldn't say I'm all that tired--but I am disoriented. Because Amelia is a preemie we have to set our alarm to wake up to feed her--rather than her providing a vocal alarm. Last night the alarm goes off and I jump to action--plugging in the breast pump, unwrapping Amelia from her blankets, changing the diaper. This while Heidi organizes her pillows and gets herself ready to feed Amelia. While Heidi fed Amelia, I went downstairs and washed some dishes and moved some laundry around. Also, since it was the last feeding of the night I got the coffee brewing.

Back upstairs I look at the clock and ask Heidi if the reading, 12:30am was correct. It was. I had just somehow imagined 3 other feedings--I swore they happened. I'm drinking said coffee right now--its not too bad warmed up. Like I said, disoriented.

By the way for those of you at The Smoking Gun, what I just told was an approximation of what really happened. I'm so disoriented that I can't vouch for even my own details of a story that happened a few hours ago.

This video is of Amelia waking up this morning. Listen closely at the very end. Sorry it is so dark--I didn't turn the lights on.

Details for today:

• We learned that Amelia's billirubin levels are in the OK range. This means that she does not need to be tested again.
• Our next visit with the visiting nurse will be on Tuesday.
• We are having ham for Easter.
• Amelia is eating well at the breast, on the breast or in the vicinity of the actual breast, meaning that we do not need to pipette/bird style feed her as much--this is a good sign.
• The beer fridge is now almost completely filled with milk.
• Breast milk is more yellow than I imagined. The freezer looks like it is filled with yellow pudding pops.

Amelia Says Hello

See if you can take a look at this video of Amelia and Heidi...

Nesbitt Visits

20 March 2008

Today our great friend John Nesbitt surprised us with a visit to our house. He brought some great books, a velveteen rabbit and a great bottle of bourbon. One of those gifts was for me.

We were also visited today by the visiting nurse. She took a blood sample from Amelia that will be used to check her billirubin levels. She is a little orange, which is a sign of jaundice, but she is eating and pooping (a lot on both counts) and those are signs of not having jaundice. We will look at it day to day but the signs look good so far.

I learned a little about post partum emotions in the middle of the night last night. While many of you were sleeping I went to get Heidi some water while she fed Amelia. At the hospital she had been given a water bottle that she had used through labor and in the days after. It had been by her side the whole time. Well, when I screwed on the cap I broke it. I went upstairs to tell Heidi and she looked at me as though I had killed one of our cats then she weakly said, "Can we get a new lid?" It is clear that I will have to find a way to get a new one of those bottles.

At home

20 March 2008
Well Amelia has been a wonderful spring surprise. I know this will fade but our focus has been so much on keeping her alive on an hourly basis that we haven't noticed much else happen in the world.
Here are some pictures from yesteday and last night: http://picasaweb.google.com/crumlives/AmeliaAndHeidiAtHome?authkey=d30zBU-V3zU

Today I have to go to work for an hour or so. Heidi will be alone for a feeding, she will certainly be able to to it but it is her first one all alone.

The breast pump is such an important part of the feedings that I wonder how kids got fed without it?

OK--maybe Heidi will write some more later today. Need to go wake everyone up so I can go to work.

Going Home

19 March 2008

It turns out they wanted to send us home yesterday. But we acted so pathetic that they let us stay one more day. This morning at 8:00 the pediatrician on call came in and let us know that Amelia was doing well enough to go home. She has been eating and pooping which were the main hurdles she had to get over to make it home.

The car ride was totally uneventful. We decided that she really has been riding around in the car for quite some time--so it made sense that she was used to it. The weather was bad wintery rain but the roads were good in the afternoon and we made it home just fine. I did use my turn signal on some curves in the road just to be safe.

The fun began when we walked in the house and saw that the temperature was 47 degrees. Once again we had run out of oil. It was feeding time, it was our first 5 minutes at home, we didn't know where anything was packed, Amelia had a filthy diaper, the wood we had in the garage was wet, the dry wood was out through the yard and under a wet tarp, the cats were crawling all over the car seat and the bassinet AND it was freezing in our house.

Needless to say it made for a stressful first hour home. Luckily Irving oil sent someone right so Amelia's first gift at the house was 200 gallons of oil. Heidi did a great job doing all of the feeding on her own and I ran around like crazy trying to wash all the dishes from Saturday night and find a place that we could put this little kid. We are taking it easy tonight and hope that things continue to go well. In the next few days we will be keeping a close eye on how much she eats and poops and whether she is jaundiced. There is a chance we would have to go back to the hospital if she isn't eating enough--but we are going to try our best to keep her at home. Of course we will keep you all updated.

Here are some pictures from today:http://picasaweb.google.com/crumlives/AmeliaDay3?authkey=hMdJoMr6usM

Day 3 Update

19 March 2008

Day 3 is going well. Amelia has moved from being fed like a little bird, with a pipette, to feeding on Heidi's breast. The pediatrician just came in and said that they would probably send us all home today. This is, of course, good news but a little scary too. I don't know what to do with a regular baby let alone one that was born early. That said we are very excited and look forward to relaxing at home.

Amelia's bilirubin levels (jaundice related) are in the normal levels but she is turning a little orange so they are going to keep an eye on that in the coming days. Even though we will be home they will be sending a visiting nurse 2 times a week to see us just to make sure Amelia and Heidi are OK.

I'll post some pictures later when we get home.

Day 1 and 2 pictures

Pictures of Amelia from the first days:

http://picasaweb.google.com/crumlives/AmeliaElizabethCrumrineTheArrival?authkey=_vqBPVGgv4U

Details of the Big Day

I tried not to include too many graphic details. But if you are a single person with no thoughts of having a baby in the near future you may want to skip this part.

7:00am March 16th: Heidi spent the morning at home wondering what was happening to her. She made many trips to the bathroom but wasn't sure if her water had broken. She was actually excited to possibly be having some Braxton Hicks contractions. She had not had any yet and with 5 weeks to go she was happy to have them start. But she wanted to call the doctor--just in case. Since you already know the end of the story--you know that our doctor, Dr. Heidi, told us to come on in. (That's right Heidi is named Heidi and our doctor is named Heidi.)

7:30am: Dr. Heidi checked out the situation and Heidi's water had definitely broken. Even though we were only 35 weeks along she decided that the baby was safer out than in.

8:00am: We were moved into a room and Heidi was started on antibiotics to prevent infection and on Pitosin--the chemical that induces labor. Heidi ordered some breakfast at this time too.

8:30am: No breakfast yet. Heidi had only had a piece of bread so she was getting really hungry.
We also met our nurse Heather at this point. She is one of the heroes of this story.

9:00am: Breakfast finally arrives. Heidi starts to feel the contractions come stronger.

10:00-11:00am: Contractions started to come stronger and closer together. Heidi was also very nauseated. Lots of puking and dry heaves.

11:30am: Heidi gets a small dose of Demerol. This slightly numbs the pain but mainly makes the nausea worse.

12:00: Heidi doesn't want to listen to my suggestions any more :)

12-2:00pm: Lots of pain. I held Heidi's hand during contractions, fed her ice, got her ginger ale. Heather was a great partner in helping Heidi too.

2:15: Heidi calls for some more pain killer.

2:30: The anesthesiologist arrives. Heidi would describe this as an angelic moment. The epidural didn't make the pain go away but it made it manageable. At this point Heidi was 4cm dilated.

3:30: Contractions begin to come big time and Heidi is feeling the urge to push. The baby is not cooperating. She is transverse--meaning her nose is pointed toward one of Heidi's hips.

4:00: Dr. Heidi says that she will allow Heidi to push for 1 more hour. Then she would have to do a c-section. During this time Heidi did amazing work breathing the baby through and pushing her out. I could not have done it without Heather who was holding Heidi's other leg. I certainly didn't know how to coach someone to have a baby.

5:00: Dr. Heidi came back to check on Heidi. She really didn't want to do a c-section so we moved Heidi to a birthing stool to see how that worked. While I held Heidi's back and shoulders she pushed while on the stool. Dr. Heidi and Heather just sat on the floor in front of us, watching it happen and encouraging Heidi. It was an awesome scene that I am too tired to capture well here but that will be stuck in my mind forever.

5:09: With one final push Heidi delivered Amelia right into her own waiting hands. She brought her right up to her chest and Amelia snuggled right in. When I saw her come out I said, "Its just like the x-files.") She had a very long head.

The rest of the night was a blur of learning how to change diapers and trying to sleep. But we were happy that Amelia was here and that she and Heidi were OK.

Amelia Arrives--A bit early

Amelia Elizabeth Crumrine
March 16th 5:09 pm
2490 grams/ 5 lbs. 8 oz.
48.26 centimeters/19 inches
10 hours of labor
about 4 weeks early

Mother and baby are doing fine. I'll get more news out later (and pictures) but wanted to let everyone know what was up.

The arrival was early but we are VERY excited.

Shower

9 March 2008

The baby shower was yesterday. Heidi's grandmother Perkins made a surprise visit by flying up in the morning from Pittsburgh. Aunt Liz, Olya, Becky and tons of Heidi's friends also came out on a miserable rainy day. We were both blown away by the great gifts that we received--thanks to all.

I was most excited by the stroller which we can use to go for walks on the bumpy roads around our house. I also learned a ton about swaddling. Never before did I know the importance of swaddling to baby life. Now after recieving 10 swaddling cloths and the literature that comes with them, I have learned that proper swaddling of babies can save the world. It is likely that Hitler was not swaddled properly.

I'm also very excited about the hiking pack for the baby. It can't be used until the baby is 15 pounds but that means it will be ready for our first summer hikes. It would be nice to set a record for youngest baby that has climbed all of the 4000 foot mountains.

Tom

Latest Baby News

9 March 2008

The latest baby belly picture:

We are getting closer and I'm getting more nervous by the day.

Tom